My experience is one of safe and secure-recent new energy in the management.

Boats come here to secure in hurricanes-

Having searched most of the east coast-this feels good-and is in my opinion value priced and an interesting place to be. Dockage being a big part of our budgets-I thought I would share my experience-I have no connection with the marina other than as member/slipowner-expressing my own view

My experience is one of safe and secure-recent new energy in the management.

Boats come here to secure in hurricanes-

Having searched most of the east coast-this feels good-and is in my opinion value priced and an interesting place to be. Dockage being a big part of our budgets-I thought I would share my experience-I have no connection with the marina other than as member/slipowner-expressing my own view

Wintering Anchorage Marina Baltimore

Baltimore Harbor may have more nice marinas packed into one small area than anywhere I know. I would say as a casual observer they are all nice, and selection between them is often a matter of preferred location in the harbor and availability. Now on the wrong day at the wrong time, traffic gets a bit hectic. It's almost like one 5000 slip marina.

As to purchase of a slip there, compared to many places I've seen the prices are actually quite reasonable as the payback versus renting is about 6 to 7 years and I'm quite use to seeing paybacks of 10 years and more. I notice the largest slip is 60'.

I do have one question. Is the marina bubbled for winter use? Water kept on?

Nice enough place. Visited when we were 'marina shopping'. But for us the deal breaker was fighting city traffic in to the boat on Fridays. There are quite a few need marinas big and small around the harbor, some better than others.

the only down side i can think of to being in the harbor is being hassled by the harbor police who, for some reason, hate the idea that someone may to bring a dinghy in 'their' harbor.

anyhow, Slip ownership is an interesting concept but i need to pay more taxes like i need a hole in the head. Instead, we picked a nice working (member maintained) yacht club.

The marina takes care of its winter liveaboard population about 10% of 550 with hoses.

The marinas "urban" character-steps from everything-portal into a vibrant city-to my experience is unique/special/exceptional. Try to find that in Charleston, Norfolk, New York-and its expensive/difficult or both.

I brought this up in context to the newbies and slip costs of generally $4-7,000 a year-true, but with some thought and creative zest this can become, moderate in cost and rich in experience.

If someone can expose me to a like situation in Paris- or like $10.000 finders fee.

Boat will move and enjoy the free dock at fells point St, Paddys day 3/17

Considering everything, including culture, entertainment, architectural diversity, ethnic and class diversity, markets, education, festivals, food, space, affordability, proximity to rural areas, nautical history and a lot of other things important to live-aboards, I think you're very near to the best of all worlds there, save for the winter weather which has been pretty tough this season.

We stayed for a week at the Anchorage Marina back in 2002 while doing the "loop" and where pleasantly surprised by the floating swimming pool in the marina. We haven't seen one since. I also broke the load record for my bike transporting two cases of beer from the store a few blocks down Boston Street !! Great area and great history.
Bill

Owning a slip (as opposed to renting) is not for everyone. It's probably not a good idea for most people unless you're in an area where renting is difficult or impossible.

You spend money you could otherwise invest (or borrow money) to buy the slup, you pay property taxes and condo fees. You have little control over the condo fees and have little control over the maintenance of the facilities. When it comes time to sell the slip, there's no guarantee of a profit or even a sale. You might have to take a loss to sell it or try to rent it.

Think long and hard before you invest in a marina slip. It might be a good investment for some but not for others.

I went to their web site, and downloaded their for sale list. The 60' slips for sale started at $30K, or $500/ft. 40' were averaging over $650/ft. Even the cheapest 40'er was $325/ft. Still not bad compared to the Northeast, and it does look like a great downtown marina.

The best way to try Anchorage is to do a winter rental 11/1--4/1 about $1000, best to find on craigslist, I have bought slips from owners having been a renter and some numbers are attractive-better than asking/listed. Each dock has a personality.

Sometimes I count the money I have saved-rather than the inevitable amount of time/money spent on boating.